The municipality of St Alexandre-de-Kamouraska is part of the Kamouraska Regional County Municipality and is located in the Lower St Lawrence region. It is located 125 miles (200 km) northeast of Quebec City and 310 miles (500 km) southwest of Gaspé. The geographical location of the municipality is special: close to the Rivière-du-Loup and Témiscouata Regional County Municipalities, midway between Quebec and Rimouski and close to Nouveau-Brunswick and the United States.

The name of the minicipality honors Bishop Alexandre-Antonin Taché (1823-1894), archbishop of Saint-Boniface (1853-1894) who was born in the neighbouring St Patrice parish in Rivière-du-Loup. The name also honors one of the first settlers, Alexandre Thériault. The St Alexandre parish was legally constituted on November 23rd, 1857, after the dissolution of seigniories, but its actual name, St Alexandre-de-Kamouraska, became official on August 14th, 1997.

History

The municipality is formed from Isle-du-Portage and Verbois old seigniories. Its foundation goes back up early in the 19th century when the first settlers were coming from St André, a neighbouring village located on the shores of the St. Lawrence river. For a long time, the population of St André occupied only the coastal region of the river. However, at the beginning of the 19th century, swarming settlers from neighbouring parishes tried to cross the "large lowland" of St André in order to settle higher in the woods. The first ones settled in the St Stanislas county road (2nd country road). The first settler was Jean Thériault who settled in the eastern section of that country road in 1812. He is followed the following year by his cousin, Alexandre Thériault. In 1815, Michel Parent settled and was followed, two years later, by Firmin Bélanger and by Frédéric Pelletier. Growth went on so fast that in 1850 the 6th country road was occupied.

The parish

The most ancient document found, concerning the foundation of the parish, is dated May 15th, 1833. The parishioners of St André's second concession settled in a location called "Rivière des Caps" (Capes River) contacted Archbishop Joseph Signay, of Quebec City, requesting the division of the parish. Their request, written by notary Alexandre Fraser, was based upon religious motives: « The distance from their church, the harshness of the climate and the poor condition of the roads preventing them from fulfilling their religious duties. »

On June 28th, 1833, another request originating this time from the parishioners of St André and Rivière-du-Loup is sent to the archbishop of Quebec. This division project gave the new parish a territory measuring 8.6 miles (13.9 km) wide in the north, 10.4 miles (16.7 km) wide in the south over a depth of 8.6 miles (13.9 km). The petitioners mentioned that the farthest distance seperating both churches would be 17.3 miles (27.8 km) while the closest would be a distance of 7.4 miles (12 km). Following this second request, the General Vicar, Alexis Mailloux, is charged by the archbishop of Quebec City to go on site in order to verify if it is opportune to found a parish in accordance with the requests.

But on January 14th, 1842, the settlers in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd country roads, established in the Rivière-du-Loup seigniory, west of St Patrice and east of St André, requested Archbishop Signay that St Alexandre must include with its territory only the people residing in the 4th, 5th and 6th country roads so that the ones located in 1st, 2nd and 3rd country roads may, with the construction of the Lake Road, form a separate parish in order for these people not be located too far from their church. This petition, which will lead in 1856 to the founding of Notre-Dame-du-Portage parish, was so important that Archbishop Signay, with due caution, decided to carefully examine the possibility of founding two parishes instead of only one. The erection of St Alexandre parish was delayed to some future date.

In order to prevent the creation of a second parish, a request was made to the people living in the 3rd country road inviting them to join the new parish. The residents refused to join St Alexandre parish if the church is not built within their concession. And, to modify the future location of the church would call for reviewing every detail of the canonical procedure for the erection of a parish including the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th country roads. Clearly, it meant selecting a new investigator, announcing his visit in the "most public" place in the territory and giving him time to write the fullest possible report on new situation. Owing to the complexity of their request, the residents of the 3rd country road went back on their proposal a while later. They are willing to let the church be built in the 4th country road. Nothing will come out of this. On May 23rd, 1851, Father Narcisse Doucet, St André's parish priest, received a letter from Archbishop Pierre-Flavien Turgeon, of Quebec City, announcing that the erection decree for St Alexandre will be published shortly.

The church

The construction of the church will be carried on the location which we know today. Nevertheless, this decision to built it in the 3rd country road was difficult to take since the 2nd country road was still not part of the parish in 1851 and that the people in the 4th country road wanted the church to be built more in the centre of the parish. The land donation by François Dufour, Vincent Deschênes and Firmin Bélanger on March 12th, 1851 and the canonical erection of the parish on May 24th, 1851, confirmed the site of the church to be built in the 3rd country road upon an eight-acre area. Favourable building conditions were right to the 3rd country road people. People living in 2nd country road will join St Alexandre in two steps: the eastern portion on July 17th, 1852 and the western portion on May 21st, 1853. St Alexandre canonical erection was finally completed in three steps.

The plans of the church are prepared by architect Jean-Félix Langlais and its construction was completed in 1862. In 1882, it is decided to repaint and to extend the church by the 30 feet (9.1 metres) on the portal side, on all the width of the building using wood. The steeple was probably erected during these works.

The rectangular building has a protruding chancel with a flat apse. The exterior walls are covered with bricks. Inside, it is a three-vessel nave with a back and two lateral galleries. Interior walls and the semi-circular vault are made of wood.

The parish is part of the La Pocatière diocese ever since the creation of this diocese in 1951.

The organ

During a churchwardens' meeting, on December 18th, 1887, it was first decided to replace the reed organ of the church and, secondly, to mandate notary Roy to go to Montreal to make the purchase. The account book mentions that a subscription was raised among the parishioners that yielded $421. The old reed organ was sold for $50 while the new organ cost $1,710. It was a mechanical-action instrument built by Louis Mitchell.

In 1936, Casavant completely rebuilt the instrument using elements from the old instrument while enlarging it.